The invention relates to a comminuting device for commercial or industrial waste and concerns such a device having a receiving container with a vertical main axis for the material to be communited, which container changes over, at least in its lower region, into a hopper which has substantially the shape of a circular cone in its main portion and which, in its lower region, defines a discharge opening, having a cutting mechanism which is associated with the discharge opening and comprises a rotor which can be set in rotation about a vertical axis of rotation by means of a drive motor and has cutting knives the cutting edges of which, on rotation of the rotor, pass through an at least approximately closed cutting action area sweeping over the discharge opening, and having a crushing and conveying tool which rotates with the rotor, above this, and is effective in the hopper space above the discharge opening.
Known comminuting devices of this type serve for the dry comminution of objects in the form of solid pieces, particularly of wood. The hopper in the form of a circular cone, or sometimes in the form of a truncated pyramid, has a horizontal discharge opening at its lower end and the cutting knives of the rotor, which forms a slow-speed rotor, pass through an annular, substantially horizontal cutting action area (DE-PS No. 27 01 897; DE-PS No. 29 28 471).
For the communication of waste consisting of cardboard, paper, plastics or the like materials, such as accumulate primarily in the case of packaging waste, comminuting devices are used which generally comprise a hopper with a prismatic basic shape, the discharge opening of which is aligned substantially horizontally and is equipped with a cutting mechanism which comprises a rotor rotating horizontally as a high-speed rotor and equipped with cutting knives, or a pair of such rotors. Cutting appliances of such a construction (DE-OS NO. 19 15 559) certainly have a comparatively high comminuting capacity, generally exceeding the waste, but if they are too heavily loaded, particularly with flat material to be communited, they tend to seize.
With light loading and voluminous material to be comminuted, the rotor tends to exert a repelling action because of its high speed of rotation and this also applies to double rotors.